Whisper Not
by indiglow79
Summary: Gaea is facing its restoration period, post-Zaibach war. Folken is alive, yet despite his turn to the allies during the war, he is on trial for war crimes. Only one girl can get him off the hook. Folken/Original Character.


Whisper Not

Chapter 1.

Helena Atwood stared out of the tall window. Two months ago she never would have imagined herself in a situation quite like this one, but after all, she had grown accustomed to accepting circumstances that she knew she had very little, or no power over at all.

As she stared into the garden below her, she reflected her life on earth prior to her residency in Gaea. At the age of twenty-two, Helena had received an early acceptance to Harvard Law School, starting an LLM in Criminal Law. Helena never saw herself as a brilliant mind; she just had a father with a large bank account who bought her into her over-priced education. Yale for her undergraduate in English Literature and a law degree from Harvard, how prestige! She said to herself, " To think, two months ago I was partying it up at Harvard dressed as Holly Golightly from Breakfast at Tiffany's to waking up with perhaps the worst hangover of my life in Gaea … and now … here I am, waiting to meet the former Strategos of the Zaibach Empire to try to get him off of his death sentence."

Times were strange for Helena, but as previously mentioned, acceptance was something she was very good at. She had learned to accept that her mother had never loved her, that she was a mistake. She had learned to accept that deep down inside her father felt the same way, for the love of his wife quickly diminished the day Helena was born. She also learned to accept that James would never say those three words despite her trying efforts. She had also learnt to accept that she was a Queen in Gaea. Helena, like any person, dreamed of becoming President of the United States of America, I mean who wouldn't? She never thought, however, that that day would come so soon under such … different circumstances. Nevertheless, Helena had duties, as a law student and as a Queen. She had studied international politics briefly and knew that diplomacy was first before a war. However in this particular case, a war was already in the midst.

When Helena arrived two months ago, she had been informed of some war between a "Zaibach" and this world of "Gaea". She was the chosen one, the Queen from the legend of Gaea, that there would be three females to fall from the Mystic Moon to save Gaea. The first be it the Winged Goddess, the second, Queen of Gaea and the third is unnamed. The Winged Goddess had already come and gone by now, so assumingly she was the second. "A Queen? A Ruler? I suppose I could do it. After all, it isn't like we're in a war or anything," she told the strangers. Van Fanel of Fanelia and Allan Schezar of Asturia all had told her otherwise.

Two months progressed and Helena had been updated on all things Zaibach, Gaea, Van Fanel, Hitomi Kanzaki and of course her client, Folken Fanel. Van had come to her after learning of her studies in law to attempt to get Folken off of his death sentence as issued by Asturia. He knew Folken had very little chance to begin with, let alone hiring a female lawyer, but he knew that since she had recently been crowned Queen, her appeal to the Gaean courts would hold some clout. Today was the day that Helena was to finally meet Van's brother and discuss his case.

There was a knock on the door

"They are ready for you, your highness. The conference room has been set up, and the criminal is waiting for you," answered a small voice on the other side of the enormous, wooden door.

"Thank-you," She replied, despite the unorthodox tone in the servant's voice behind the door, "I'll be there in a moment."

Helena turned to the door and took a deep breath. She had no idea when or if this insanity would ever end. _Time to be a lawyer for once_, she thought as she grabbed the handle and opened the door.

Helena walked down the hallway with high ceilings painted with angelic creatures, while supported by tall cylinder beams. This was all surreal, but she had learnt to accept it. Being a Queen after all, was not exactly the worst job in the world; after all she was studying to become a criminal defense attorney. What could be worse than that?

Van Fanel disrupted Helena's thoughts before she entered the conference room. He looked upset.

"What's wrong Van?"

"I'm just worried. After all my brother has put my family through, myself and my friends, I'm beginning to wonder if this is all worth it."

"Well from what I understand he asked for forgiveness by serving as an ally, switching sides. If anything, back home, that would surely get him off of the death sentence and probably … life?"

"What is _life_?"

"Well back home, it's supposed to be jail for the rest of your life, but it's really twenty-five years, maybe sooner if you're good."

"I'm not sure of which is worse"

"I wouldn't know, I've never put myself in a position between life in jail or death," remarked Helena.

"If you don't want to do this, you don't have to. Maybe we should just give him to the courts, let them deal with it. I still have so much hatred towards him!" exclaimed Van.

"Don't worry about it Van. Clearly you still love him, or else you wouldn't have come to me," Helena assured.

Van was silent. He looked away from her and took a deep breath, "Time to go in I suppose."

Helena said nothing and followed him into the conference room. She always had this tired expression; her green eyes always drooped with a hint of sadness. She was having one of her bad days. Van, Allen, Millerna, Hitomi and even Merle, all noticed that some days Helena would be incredibly sad. They assumed she missed home, and that was half true. The simple truth was, Helena was incredibly lonely. Despite people being around her day and night, there simply was no one to talk to. Van was the closest she had ever come to having a true friend while in Gaea, others just thought her as either one of two things; the first being that she was completely unfit to rule an entire world or two; that she was incredibly beautiful. Helena never thought herself a beautiful girl back home in Boston. She thought herself actually quite average. She had long brown hair that would make a natural wave when there was humidity in the air. Her face was pale, yet yielded any imperfections. And then there were her eyes, emerald green. Those eyes could light a room up when she was happy; yet darken the skies when she was upset. However, many people, including Helena's friends, thought her as a mystery.

Helena sat down at the end of a large, oak, table. She took no notice of anyone else in the room as she fitted her dress behind her to sit comfortably. After brushing a lose strand of hair from her face, she looked up to see Folken Fanel. He was staring right at her, his face tense, and eyes filled with confusion. She ignored this, assuming it was the usual sexism she constantly delt with while being a ruler. But the moment Helena was about to speak, Folkens' faced softened. There was an instant calm in the room. As though the gaze between Helena and Folken had sent a wave of serenity throughout the room. There was nothing but silence. Helena knew she had to be the first to break the ice.

"You must be Lord Folken?"

He nodded.

"Alright then. Let's go through your file and get right to business."

Helena opened up a file folder of a list of charges that had been indicted against the man. As she read through them, Folken kept his head down, his gaze only met by his brother Van who refused to look away from him.

"So Lord Folken, before we go any further, I have to know what you want to do. Do you mind if I sit closer to you?"

Folken's gaze shot up. Helena was already moving, her green dress flowing as she walked to the other end of the table and took a seat.

"I think it's important that we see each other eye to eye," she explained.

"Eye to eye? I think that is impossible, your highness." _Finally a response_, she thought.

"Please, call me Helena. And why do you think that? Because I'm a woma-"

"No, because I am a monster. I deserve this death sentence, I have killed many and I wish not to continue further with this trial. There need not be a trial, just a punishment for what I have done," explained Folken.

Helena sat in silence. She looked at Van. He was already out of his seat, headed for the door.

"Van please wait!" called Helena.

Van ignored and Hitomi quickly followed suit.

"Perhaps family therapy would be more appropriate?" joked Helena. Nobody laughed.

Folken looked at her again, this time examining. He took her in from the floor up; _she is awfully short for a royal,_ he thought. Her dress was a plain green, overlapping a white blouse. Her collar was unbuttoned for the most part revealing a cross around her neck. He had never seen a symbol before. Helena noticed his eyes on her chest

"It's to protect me from the vampires," she joked.

He did not laugh.

"It's from earth, a religious symbol. My parents are very religious. I wear it for them. I choose to be indifferent," explained Helena.

He did not answer.

"Okay listen. I don't really care if you don't like me, but from what I hear you did a noble thing by switching sides in the middle of a war. Not a lot of opposition leaders would do it and I think what you've done is just swell. Nevertheless, I will go before the council and you will not be permitted to speak. You will have no choice in this matter, if you want to suffer for what you have done, it is better that you be alive to be haunted rather than dead."

Helena stared at him coldly. Folken remained quiet and emotionally unaware of his surroundings. She looked down and gazed at his hands, realizing that one of his arms was not actually an arm, but a mechanical claw. Despite his mechanical arm, both hands or, hand and claw, were chained together. Reality struck that Van's brother was in fact a prisoner of war. Looking back up at his face, his sorrow chimed the reality bells even harder. _He's so beautiful,_ Helena thought, staring at his face. She had seen many handsome boys and men while in school, but Folken had this aura beyond his beauty. The moment Helena looked at him, she was instantly attracted, but did not think of anything immediately. But his voice … his voice was wonderful. It was so calm, so soothing and gentle she could fall asleep to it…

"I think we're done here, your highness," Folken broke the silence.

Helena shook her head and looked up at him. She nodded and stood up immediately.

"Thank you for your time, Lord Folken. If I have any further questions, I know where to find you."

And with that, Folken was led out of the conference room by several guards. Helena sat back down in her chair, alone in the room, and put her head down on the desk. _This is going to be a long week_, she thought as she lifted her head and began to sort through the legal documents.


End file.
